ALBUFEIRA

The place we know today as Albufeira is not just the “Tourist Capital” in Portugal. It is also an area full of history, with vestiges of human occupation since the remote Neolithic and Bronze ages.

Over the years there has been much progress and many changes to this once small fishing village. The progress has turned Albufeira into a city with tourism and leisure as its vocation. The streets in the old Cerro da Vila (mediaeval area) still preserve the picturesque appeal of whitewashed houses and steeply narrow streets.

In Travessa da Igreja Velha, an old moorish arch indicates the place where once stood a primitive mosque, later transformed in the town´s first church.

On Albufeira beach, the bright colours of the fishing boats contrast with the blue of the sea. Indifferent to the tourists sunbathing nearby, the fishermen carry on the task of mending and preparing the nets, as they have done for hundreds of years.

A walk by the sea will offer you a magnificent view over the city, the beaches and the cliffs which are part of the charm of Albufeira. The sidewalk leads to the pretty cave at Xorino, where according to the local tradition the Moors took refuge when the town was re conquered by the Christians in the 13th century.